With less than a year remaining in his second term at the Élysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron wants to continue what he describes as the strategic effort to support the quantum, electronics, and semiconductor industries. In this context, the French president traveled this Friday to the CEA’s Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC, Very Big Calculation Center) in Bruyères-le-Châtel, south of Paris.
The visit provided an opportunity for the head of state to tour Lucy, the phononic quantum computer installed at the TGCC, and above all to unveil new initiatives aimed at giving entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors the resources needed to strengthen sectors considered critical to France’s and Europe’s technological sovereignty.
According to the Élysée, the event was designed as a European forum on computing technologies, quantum computing, and semiconductors, against a backdrop of “American dominance” in computing power and the "market shift" caused by AI in the semiconductor industry.
Boosting Public Procurement in Quantum Computing
Emmanuel Macron has therefore decided to allocate an additional €1 billion to the quantum sector through the France 2030 program. This funding expands upon the national strategy launched in 2021, which initially allocated €1.8 billion for the 2021–2025 period.
That original plan was supplemented in 2021 by the Proqcima program, which received €500 million over five years to support public procurement in quantum computing, particularly to meet growing defense needs linked to the Russian threat.
After witnessing the rise of French quantum champions such as Pasqal, Quandela, Alice & Bob, Quobly, and C12, the government is now injecting another €1 billion, notably to accelerate quantum computing capabilities.
Part of the funding will be used to expand the Proqcima public procurement program for 2026–2032 and to co-finance European programs for acquiring supercomputers. Other priorities include strengthening research and talent development in the sector, as well as investing in quantum sensors and communications technologies.
Toward a Franco-German Coalition for the Quantum Act?
Macron is also calling for faster progress on the Quantum Act, the future European regulatory framework currently being developed in Brussels to scale up the quantum industry across the European Union.
In this context, the French president wants France to work closely with Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Poland to launch a large-scale European public procurement program for supercomputers designed, manufactured, and operated by European companies, in order to reduce exposure to extraterritorial legislation.
“We need to be much more proactive at the European level,” the Élysée said.
To support this ambition, Macron is advocating for a European research and innovation loan mechanism to help Europe become more competitive in emerging technologies. He is also calling on private investors to contribute more actively and urging research institutions such as the CEA, CNRS, and Inria to form a European coalition for research and technology.
This coalition could build on the conclusions of the Franco-German mission on disruptive innovation led by Bpifrance and Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (Sprind), which are expected to be presented at VivaTech — an event Macron has attended regularly since its creation ten years ago.
Semiconductors and AI Gigafactories Also in Focus
The French president is not only focused on supercomputers. Semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, and AI gigafactories are also central to his agenda.
Regarding gigafactories, Macron likely welcomed the announcement made Wednesday by Iliad, Ardian, Artefact, Bull, Capgemini, EDF, Orange, and Scaleway of the creation of a consortium called “AION” to build an AI gigafactory in France.
The consortium, which currently includes 28 companies, aims to submit a French bid under the European AI gigafactory program. These infrastructures are considered critical for operating large AI models. The official call for proposals is expected to be launched soon by Brussels.
A New Electronics Strategy Coming in July
Alongside quantum initiatives, Macron also announced France’s intention to participate in a new European semiconductor funding program — IPCEI Advanced Semiconductor Technologies — with a contribution of €550 million.
The funding is intended to support research and industrialization efforts in Europe’s semiconductor sector, which has become more strategic than ever in the age of AI.
At the same time, Macron is advocating for an alliance with Germany and the Netherlands in the context of the revision of the European Chips Act. The goal is to introduce requirements for European-added value in EuroHPC contracts to help create globally competitive champions in high-performance computing.
The French government is also expected to unveil a new electronics strategy in July, outlining a roadmap through 2035. This strategy will complement the national semiconductor acceleration plan launched in 2022 with a budget of €5.5 billion.
A Week of Major Announcements
To illustrate France’s ambitions in quantum technologies and semiconductors, Macron can point to several recent developments.
On the eve of his visit to the TGCC, French startup Pasqal announced the inauguration for Aramco of Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer, as well as the region’s first commercial quantum computing platform. The system developed by the French startup is based on a 200-qubit neutral-atom quantum processor.
Other examples include VSORA, which this week received the first units of its Jotunn 8 chip manufactured by TSMC; Quandela, which plans to open a 1,000-square-meter semiconductor site in Munich in early 2027; and Scaleway and QbitSoft, which unveiled the Quantum Adoption Program, a sovereign offering designed for industrial companies seeking to adopt quantum technologies.
Together, these initiatives are helping France and Europe maintain hope that they can remain competitive in quantum computing and semiconductors after having largely missed the rise of cloud computing.
